Communication in Foreign Languages

We use foreign languages for communication: to understand and express thoughts, facts, feelings, opinions and emotions in oral and written form.

Level B1

Do Progress Test  “Foreign Languages for Communication”

 Task 1. Find the word that does not go with the others in meaning.

  • widespread, comfortable, foreign, native
  • New Zealand, Canada, Australia, India
  • spelling, difference, pronunciation, vocabulary
  • speak, pronounce, join, listen
  • college, university, embassy, school
  • communicate, talk, speak, consider

Task 2. Match the questions with the answers.

1. What foreign languages can you speak?
2. Can you speak any foreign languages?
3. Is English spoken in Egypt?
4. How many Ukrainians live in the USA?
5. What is more difficult for you, to speak or to listen?

a. Sorry, but I don’t know.
b. To listen of course, for you speak only what you know and what you can say.
c. No. French.
d. Yes, English a little bit.
e. English, but just a little bit.

Task 3. Fill in the gaps with the words below. There are two extra words in the list.

a. tongue     b. number     c. speakers     d. widely     e. science     f. community     g. language    h. importance    i. nowadays

It is only in the course of the last hundred years that English has become a world __1__ . In Shakespeare’s time it was a provincial language of secondary __2__ with only 6 million native __3__.   __4__ English has become the world’s most important language in politics, __5__, trade, and cultural relations. In __6__ of speakers it is the second only to Chinese. Even more __7__ English is studied and used as a foreign language.

Task 4. Translate into English.

Міжнародні зв‘язки між країнами розширюються. Тому знання іноземних мов необхідне в наші дні. Український уряд приділяє велику увагу вивченню іноземних мов, особливо англійської. Діти починають вивчати англійську вже в другому класі. Це мова прогресивної науки і техніки, торговельних і культурних відносин, спорту і бізнесу. Англійською мовою говорять більш як 350 млн. людей у світі.

Task 5. Ask questions beginning with “How many”.

  1. English has the largest vocabulary, with about 500,000 words and 300,000 technical terms.
  2. The oldest written language is Egyptian, which is 5,000 years old.
  3. Mandarin Chinese is spoken by 700 million people. The English is second only to Mandarin Chinese in the number of people who speak it.
  4. English has 20 vowel sounds and only 6 vowel letters.
  5. English is one of the six official and working languages of the United Nations Organization.
  6. India has 845 languages.
  7. More than 3.3 million passengers fly the 3,442 miles between London and New York City annually. It’s the busiest intercontinental air route in the world.

Task 6. Put the words in the correct order to make up questions and answer these questions.

  1. easy/ languages/ it/ to learn/ foreign/ is/ ?
  2. in the world/ language/ spoken/ which/ is/ people/ by/ most/ ?
  3. English/ as/ spoken/ is/ where/ tongue/ mother/ a/ ?
  4. the differences/ American/ British/ and/ English/ what/ between/ are/ ?
  5. well/ you/ English/ can/ speak/ ?
  6. English/ you/ improve/ how/ your/ can/ ?
  7. English/ to master/ should/ what/ you/ do/ ?
  8. you/ spoken/ have/ native speakers/ ever/ to/ ?
  9. to learn/ why/ English/ easy/ is/ not/ an/ language/ ?
  10. foreign/ what/ languages/ advantages/ the people/ have/ know/ who/ ?

Task 7. Write on the following situation:

Imagine you are a school teacher of English. Write a paragraph describing:

  • the importance of learning foreign languages for communication
  • what students should do to master English.